The semi-mindful spewings of some single, middle-aged white guy living in downtown Seattle.

Girl Power

Yesterday Hillary Clinton and her new bff Elizabeth Warren were making the rounds, appealing to their constituents by bashing Donald Trump, and reaping in the praise from their adoring fans. This entire event felt like a live audition for Elizabeth Warren to be the VP nomination, sans her solo of Ave Maria.

I am not swooning over Elizabeth Warren like many other liberals that I know. Her politics are much closer to that of Bernie Sanders yet never gave an endorsement to his campaign. I am not sure if she was waiting out the results and then pounce on the winner’s bandwagon or that she chose gender over ideology, either way it reeks of the same old Machiavellian move all politicians do. In other words, her actions are not that much different than the politicians she claims to be different than. That being said, she ain’t no dummy and in reality I agree with about 95% of the things that she says (although her stance on the Sonics returning to Seattle is a bit uncertain).

The issue I have with her being the nominee is not her political stances or her reputation. The issue is:

Is America for an all-woman presidential ticket?

Such a strange thing to even think in a way. I mean last time I checked, about 50% of the population is that of the female persuasion (+- 3%) yet never in the history of the US have we had a woman even run and win the nomination as a main party candidate. Pretty embarrassing if you think about it. However that is a fact, and thus indicating to me mainstream voters do not like to vote women into power.

A logical argument for a Clinton/Warren ticket is easy to construct. They both have government experience (Clinton has as much as anyone ever in fact), they are smarter than anyone in the room (unless that room contains Bill Clinton), they vary on certain issues but not so much so that they are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and they are tough cookies. But one thing we have learned throughout time is logic is not always the driving force for political victories.

There is not one reasonable argument to vote for Donald Trump; even his own party knows this (I am hoping for a revolt in Cleveland just for entertainment purposes if anything). The reality is he has 40% of the vote by default. After some calculations on my part, he is only 10.1% away from gaining a majority of the popular vote. I think it is safe to say Clinton has 40% of the vote as well regardless of what she does. So there is this 20% that is left undecided. If those 20% are not already against Trump, they are immune to any logic I can offer, and probably immune to any logic anyone can offer. It is quite possible an all-female ticket would alienate enough of that 20% to vote in protest for Trump. Why? Not because of any political reason or philosophies that have been spouted out by the Democratic ticket. Just because they are women. And again, history has shown in this country that people do not like to elect women.

I know picking a running mate really doesn’t decide elections; we vote for presidents well before we vote for the VP. And yes maybe Trump is such an awful candidate that it doesn’t matter at all who Clinton selects as a running mate. But what scares me is this irrational, yet deep, hatred for Hillary Clinton. There are many people who will stop at nothing to criticize her, bash her, and utterly demean her on a personal level. I am not sure if selecting Elizabeth Warren will quell that bile.